“A new report released Monday warned that the human rights gains made by
Afghanistan during the last two decades are at risk of collapsing following t

 

 


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Eye on Extremism


September 21, 2021 

 

Voice Of America: Taliban Accused Of Dismantling Human Rights Gains In
Afghanistan
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“A new report released Monday warned that the human rights gains made by
Afghanistan during the last two decades are at risk of collapsing following the
Taliban's takeover of the country more than a month ago. The Islamist movement
is wasting no time in “steadily dismantling” the progress, Amnesty
International, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the
World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) said in the report, which documents
the Taliban's alleged wide-ranging crackdown. Contrary to the Taliban's
repeated public pledges that they will respect the rights of all Afghans, the
report detailed “a litany” of abuses, noting that restrictions have also been
placed on women, freedom of expression and civil society. “In just over five
weeks since assuming control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have clearly
demonstrated that they are not serious about protecting or respecting human
rights. We have already seen a wave of violations, from reprisal attacks and
restrictions on women, to crackdowns on protests, the media and civil society,”
said Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty International's deputy director for South
Asia. The report alleges that attacks on human rights defenders have been
reported on “a near-daily basis” since August 15, the day when the Taliban
marched into the Afghan capital, Kabul, and established their control over
almost all of the country.”

 

ABC News: 'Hotel Rwanda' Hero Paul Rusesabagina Sentenced To 25 Years On
Terrorism Charges
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“After spending more than a year behind bars and standing trial, the man who
inspired the acclaimed 2004 film “Hotel Rwanda” was found guilty of
terrorism-related offenses on Monday. Former hotelier Paul Rusesabagina, 67,
was tried in Rwanda's high court alongside 20 other defendants on a number of
charges, including forming an illegal armed group, financing a terrorist group,
murder and abduction. While reading the verdict before the courtroom in
Rwanda's capital, Kigali, Judge Beatrice Mukamurenzi said the evidence shows
that Rusesabagina and the co-accused were part of a terrorist group and
committed acts of terrorism, “which they later bragged about in different
announcements and videos.” “They attacked people in their homes, or even in
their cars on the road traveling,” Mukamurenzi added. Rusesabagina, who has
maintained his innocence, was convicted on nine charges and subsequently
sentenced to 25 years in prison. The charges stem from Rusesabagina's
leadership of an exiled opposition coalition called the Rwandan Movement for
Democratic Change, known by its French acronym MRCD. In 2018, there were a
series of deadly attacks on villages in southern Rwanda, near the country's
border with Burundi, and Rwandan authorities inculpated the National Liberation
Front, or FLN, which is the armed wing of the MRCD.”

 

Syria

 

France 24: Two Jihadist Commanders Killed In Syria Drone Strikes: Monitor
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“Drone strikes Monday killed two jihadist commanders close to Al-Qaeda in the
Idlib region of northwest Syria, a war monitor said. The raids were carried out
by the US-led international coalition battling jihadists in Syria and Iraq, the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. But the coalition told AFP it had not
carried out any strikes in Idlib province on Monday. The strikes targeted a
vehicle on the road leading from Idlib city to Binnish further north, the
Observatory said. Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that one of the
commanders killed was Tunisian while the other was from Yemen or Saudi Arabia,
without identifying the group they belonged to. The Idlib region is dominated
by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, but rebels and other jihadists are also
present. Jihadist factions have been the target of Syrian, Russian, US and
international coalition strikes in the past. Nine jihadists were killed in
October 2019 in Russian air strikes on Idlib province, while a US strike a
month earlier killed at least 40 jihadist leaders. Syria's war has killed
around half a million people since starting in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on
anti-government protests, spiralling into a complex battlefield involving
foreign armies, militias and jihadists.”

 

Kurdistan 24: SDF-Coalition Raids Lead To Decrease In ISIS Attacks In
Northeast Syria: Report
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“The number of attacks claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) group in Syria hit
a record low in recent weeks, new data from the Syria-based Rojava Information
Center (RIC) shows. A total of 12 sleeper attacks were carried out in that
region recently, approximately the same number carried out in July. However,
only two of these latest attacks were claimed by ISIS, which is a record low,
the RIC report said. “The attacks resulted in 12 deaths, including a child in
Al-Ahmar in Deir ez-Zor who was shot by a gunman,” the RIC said. Six of the
attacks were carried out in the notorious al-Hol camp, killing eight people.
Al-Hol also saw four raids that resulted in eight arrests. “Across Northeast
Syria, the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) Asayish conducted 17 raids (including
in al-Hol) resulting in 89 arrests,” the report added. Clara Moore, a
Syria-based researcher at the Rojava Information Center (RIC), told Kurdistan
24 that a “substantial increase in SDF and Coalition raids likely contributed
to the decrease in ISIS-claimed attacks this month.” “It's important to keep
the decrease in context though; it's part of a larger security trend in the
region,” she said. “Attacks from ISIS and other groups halved every month from
May to July.”

 

Afghanistan

 

Associated Press: IS Bomb Attacks On Taliban Raise Specter Of Wider Conflict
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“The extremist Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a series of
deadly roadside bombs targeting Taliban fighters in eastern Afghanistan,
raising the specter of wider conflict between the country’s new Taliban rulers
and their long-time rivals. A string of explosions struck Taliban vehicles in
Afghanistan’s provincial city of Jalalabad over the weekend, killing eight
people, among them Taliban fighters. On Monday, three more explosions were
heard in the city, an IS stronghold, with unconfirmed reports of additional
Taliban casualties. The Taliban are under pressure to contain IS militants, in
part to make good on a promise to the international community that they will
prevent the staging of terror attacks from Afghan soil. There is also a widely
held expectation among conflict-weary Afghans that — despite fears and
misgivings about the Taliban — the new rulers will at least restore a measure
of public safety. “We thought that since the Taliban have come, peace will
come,” said Feda Mohammad, a brother of an 18-year-old rickshaw driver who was
killed in one of Sunday’s blasts, along with a 10-year-old cousin. “But there’s
no peace, no security. You can’t hear anything except the news of bomb blasts
killing this one or that,” Mohammad said, speaking at the family home where
relatives and neighbors gathered for a memorial ceremony, drinking black tea
and reciting verses from the Quran.”

 

Foreign Policy: The Taliban Don’t Need The West
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“After the Taliban’s swift takeover of Afghanistan as the United States
withdrew, several Western leaders have come out with public statements
exhorting the Taliban to respect the rights of ordinary citizens, of women, or
of religious minorities, with the implied promise that doing so will lead to
the recognition of the Taliban as the rightful government of Afghanistan and to
the continuation of Western foreign aid for the country’s civil society. The
problem, however, is that the West has no leverage—and the Taliban need neither
Western recognition nor aid. It is true that since their loss in 2001, the
Taliban have learned the importance of having allies to call upon in
international disputes—and they’ve learned to avoid making enemies. They can be
expected to refrain from becoming too entangled with global jihadi networks
that would attack other countries, as was the case when they were entangled
with al Qaeda in the 1990s, for example. But they will do no more than avoid
direct confrontation with the West. And they do not need to do any more than
that, given their decent working relationship with other powers. As most
countries were evacuating all their diplomatic personnel during the Taliban
advance last month, there were two notable exceptions to the rushed exodus:
China and Russia.”

 

Lebanon

 

France 24: Sourcing Fuel, Hezbollah Cements Role As Lebanon's Real Ruler
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“Iranian fuel has entered Lebanon without state authorisation and despite US
sanctions following arrangements by Shiite group Hezbollah, consecrating the
party's status as the main powerhouse in the crisis-hit country. “This latest
event gives yet another confirmation that Hezbollah has considerably increased
its sway over the Lebanese state,” said political scientist Karim Emile Bitar.
“It is no longer even trying to hide behind the veneer of legality offered by
official institutions,” he said. Lebanon, grappling with its worst-ever
financial crisis, defaulted on its debt last year and can no longer afford to
import key goods, including petrol for vehicles and diesel for generators
during almost round-the-clock power cuts. Fuel shortages have forced motorists
to queue for hours -- sometimes days -- while electricity outages have plunged
the country into darkness, paralysing hospitals, schools and government
offices. Despite being an integral part of the state -- it holds seats in
parliament and backs several cabinet ministers -- Hezbollah has bemoaned the
state's failure and vowed to step in with its own solution. The party, which is
designated by the US as a terrorist group and is the only militia to have kept
its arsenal after Lebanon's 1975-1990 war, arranged for dozens of trucks
carrying Iranian fuel to enter Lebanon via Syria last week.”

 

Nigeria

 

Voice Of America: Cameroon Repatriates Nigerian Ex-Fighters, Family Members
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“More than 850 former Boko Haram fighters and their family members who escaped
from the jihadist group to Cameroon have left northern Cameroon for Nigeria.
Nigerian authorities say they are taking the former militants to Nigerian
disarmament centers after complaints that such centers in Cameroon were
overwhelmed by the number of former jihadists defecting since the terrorist
group’s leader was declared killed in May. Hundreds of people Saturday gathered
along streets, watching and waving as 20 buses transporting former Boko Haram
militants and their families left Mora, a town on Cameroon’s northern border
with Nigeria, for Banki, a town in Nigeria’s Borno state. The governor of
Cameroon’s Far North region, Midjiyawa Bakari, said the former militants agreed
to voluntarily return to Nigeria. Bakari said the ex-Boko Haram militants who
have agreed to return to Nigeria’s Borno state are Nigerian citizens, 854 of
them which also include their families. He said they told Cameroonian
government officials that they were either fighters or slaves on plantations
controlled by the jihadist group. Bakari said the Nigerian ex-fighters promised
to be good citizens of Borno state. Bakari said about 150 more former militants
who are of Nigerian nationality will return to their country in the weeks
ahead, but he did not explain why they are not returning now.”

 

All Africa: Nigeria: Borno Blackout Worsens As Terrorists Bomb More High
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“Suspected Boko Haram/ISWAP terrorists at the weekend destroyed over four high
tension lines supplying electricity to Maiduguri, Bauchi State capital. This is
as residents flee Birshin Fulani a suburb which hosts the Federal Polytechnic
Bauchi, along Dass- Tafawa Balewa Road, Bauchi State due to the incessant
attacks by criminals who have laid siege to their houses, kidnapping them at
random and demanding huge ransoms. LEADERSHIP findings revealed that the entire
city of Maiduguri has been thrown into darkness for the past eight months
following the bombing of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) transmission
towers on 26th of January this year along Maiduguri- Damaturu highway by Boko
Haram/ISWAP terrorists. Ever since then residents and businesses surviving on
electricity have been groaning under hardship placed on the economy that was
already battered by the terrorists activities. The present destroyed electric
high-tension lines are within the vicinity of Auno, along the
Maiduguri-Damaturu Road. A credible source said, “More than four high tension
towers that supplied electricity from Damaturu to Maiduguri were blown off
again by the suspected members of ISWAP fighters last night.”

 

Africa

 

Reuters: Cameroon Separatists Kill 15 Soldiers In Attacks Using Explosives
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“Separatist rebels have killed 15 Cameroonian soldiers and several civilians
in two bomb attacks this month, the government said on Monday, marking a new
phase of a conflict that has dragged on for nearly five years and cost more
than 3,000 lives. Insurgents are seeking to form a breakaway state called
Ambazonia in western Cameroon. They began fighting the military in 2017 after
civilian protests calling for greater representation of the French-speaking
country's Anglophone minority were violently repressed. What began with
occasional raids by secessionists on police and army outposts has turned into a
protracted fight that has sucked the life from large parts of the forested oil-
and coffee-producing region. The first of this month's attacks occurred on
Sept. 12 in Kumbo, a town in the Northwest region, when a military convoy was
hit by an improvised explosive device (IED). On Sept. 16 another convoy in the
village of Bamessing was hit by an IED and an anti-tank rocket launcher, before
coming under heavy gunfire. The use of more sophisticated weaponry represented
“a paradigm change” in the fighting, the defence ministry said in the
statement, and suggested the militants were getting their hardware from
“violent fundamentalist groups” outside Cameroon.”

 

United Kingdom

 

BBC News: National Action: Alleged Neo-Nazi Denies Terrorism Offences
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“An alleged co-founder of the banned neo-Nazi group National Action has denied
a string of terror offences. Ben Raymond, 32, of Beechcroft Road, Swindon, is
accused of remaining in the extreme far-right group after it was outlawed in
the UK in December 2016. He is also charged with the possession of material
likely to be useful for terrorism. Mr Raymond appeared at Bristol Crown Court
and spoke only to enter his not guilty pleas. In total, he is accused of seven
offences - one of membership of a proscribed organisation contrary to Section
11 of the Terrorism Act and six counts of possessing a document or record of
use to a terrorist contrary to Section 58 of the act. According to the charges,
the material includes documents about ethnic cleansing, cluster bombs and
homemade Molotov cocktails. Mr Raymond was released on conditional bail. His
trial is due to begin on 1 November.”

 

Europe

 

Associated Press: Dutch Court: Syrian Brothers Guilty Of Jabhat Al-Nusra Roles
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“A Dutch court on Monday convicted two Syrian brothers of holding senior roles
in the Jabhat al-Nusra extremist group in their home country between 2011 and
2014, the first time Dutch judges have convicted a suspect of leadership in a
Syrian extremist organization. One brother was sentenced to 15 years and nine
months, the other to 11 years and 9 months. Their identities were not released,
in line with Dutch privacy rules. The Dutch court said in its verdicts that
Jabhat al-Nusra carried out attacks targeting the regime of President Bashar
Assad. “People who worked for the regime were tortured and murdered,” the court
said in a statement, adding that the group’s attacks also caused civilian
casualties and contributed to armed conflict and chaos that drove millions of
Syrians to flee the country. Both brothers had been given asylum in the
Netherlands. But they came under police scrutiny after one of them was
recognized by visitors to a debating center in Amsterdam, when a film about
Syria’s civil war was being shown. They both denied involvement in the
extremist group, but the court said judges convicted them based on a police
investigation that included bugging their homes and a car and sifting through
their phones and computers.”

 

Vice: Neo-Nazi Music Festivals Are Funding Violent Extremism In Europe
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“The townsfolk of Themar watched anxiously as 6,000 people gathered in a field
for a music festival in their quiet rural village in Thuringia, the
densely-forested state traditionally known as the “green heart of Germany.”
They had good reason to be wary. While the event bore all the hallmarks of any
other event on the summer festival circuit – live music, merch, overpriced beer
and food – this had one key difference: the visitors were right-wing
extremists, many from the hardcore neo-Nazi scene. The visitors, outnumbering
the population of Themar two-to-one, had gathered to hear bands from the
Rechtsrock, or right-wing rock, scene: a German term for music that’s a vehicle
for far-right, neo-Nazi ideology. The lineup included notorious acts like Die
Lunikoff Verschwörung (The Lunikoff Conspiracy), whose lead singer had
previously been jailed when his earlier band, Landser, became the first musical
group to be declared a criminal organisation by a German court for spreading
hate. The event was a veritable who’s who of the extreme-right scene, drawing
together prominent far-right activists, members of violent white supremacist
networks like the Hammerskins, and speakers linked to neo-Nazi micro-parties
and the extreme-right mixed martial arts scene.”



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